Friday, March 28, 2014

Growing with Focapaci

On my first journey to the offices of Focapaci I knew
that I would never find my way back. The local NGO is nestled in the depths of
the bustling city of El Alto and required three different buses and probably
one of the best commute views in the world, heading out of La Paz into the
mountains and clouds of El Alto.

Most travelers on visiting La Paz completely bypass El
Alto, the giant, sprawling, flat city, but in my opinion it is just as complex
and culturally rich as it’s more famous neighbor below.

El Alto used to be the fastest growing cities in
Latinoamerica, fuelled by families migrating from the countryside to the city
to try and find a better life and better opportunities for their children.
However El Alto is a tough place to live, completely exposed on the Altiplano
it can go from below freezing at night to up to 25 degrees during the day. To
make a living often both parents must go out to work, travelling to the centre
of El Alto to work on stalls, driving minivans or in ever-available construction
work that keeps El Alto growing at its astonishing rate. However often this
means that families are forced to leave young children at home with no one to
care or look after them….and this is where Focapaci steps in.

Focapaci is a grass-roots organization that identifies
issues with the migrant families of El Alto and then creates projects to help
support them. One of these projects is an Urban Gardening project. It supports
women’s associations to build their own greenhouses and form cooperatives. The
benefits are many, women have an independent, sustainable source of income that
they can use to support their family, while also being able to stay at home and
care for their young children. They can also use the excess food from the
greenhouse for their families, improving their nutrition.

The ICS Aldeas Infantiles Entrepreneurial Education
project came into contact with Focapaci almost by accident. Trying to build a
greenhouse by a children’s centre in La Paz, the volunteers needed to be
trained by an expert and in stepped Wilfredo, agricultural engineer of
Focapaci.

When I started as team leader 10 months ago the
relationship with Focapaci was a simple exchange. The volunteers would receive
one day of training for one day of physical labour, supporting Focapaci in
their greenhouses or working with a family who needed extra help.

In my first Cohort we built greenhouses with 7 delayed
families, all of whom had been waiting for over a year to finally finish their
greenhouses. The work was mainly with women, who couldn’t finish their
greenhouses on their own because of lack of support. For most their husbands
had to live away to find work and there were also some who were single mothers.
It was tough but thoroughly satisfying work. The volunteers immediately bonded
with the families, getting invited to stay for lunch or even to visit the
families’ village in the countryside. Walking away at the end of a tough,
grueling day of building they not only knew that they had contributed to
something lasting, but they’d also connected with the families and got to know
a different side of Bolivia.

Due to the success of the construction work we very
naturally began to expand on our work with Focapaci and the women’s
associations. When one of the women’s cooperatives lost their client that they
sold to we started up a vegetable order in the IS office.

After training with Wilfredo in the Focapaci
greenhouses, we moved on to more advanced techniques and starting
investigations. Focusing on new techniques that used less space in the
greenhouse and also experimenting with new types of plants, to see if they
would grow in the greenhouses.

As my time comes to an end with Focapaci we have
developed a much fuller and mutually beneficial partnership, working in four
main areas.

Commercialisation

We now have a regular weekly order, with the IS office
and 6 restaurants in La Paz. We are going to increase this order to twice a
week and include another cooperative group so they can benefit from the stable
order too.

Nutrition

We’ve finished a report for Focapaci to help them
advise families on what to grow in their greenhouses to have a more balanced
diet. Focapaci want to combine this report with planting advise and then
publish it so that they can use it for all families.

Greenhouse
investigations

We have been supporting Focapaci in a variety of
investigations, from different kinds of fertilizer to rain collecting systems
to vertical planting. Once investigations are complete we can then work with
Focapaci to support the families to replicate them.

Strengthening
Families

We are also working with the women’s associations to support them to improve their use of the
greenhouse. This is a combination of one-on-one support, connecting different
families so they can share new techniques and ways they can use their
greenhouse. We are also making two videos, one that is a basic introduction to
greenhouses that can be given to new families starting in the cooperative. The
second is on new innovations and advanced techniques that will record and share
all of the innovations of the different families and the work of Focapaci’s
agricultural engineer. So that families can keep progressing.

It is incredibly satisfying to
see how far we’ve come in just 9 months of working with Focapaci and the
variety of work that we’ve developed with them. For volunteers it’s a unique
opportunity, not only to learn new skills in these areas, but also to connect
with people and a way of life that otherwise they may never come into contact
with. For the communities we work with it's a chance for further support in advancing work and sharing ideas that will benefit them in the long term.

I have loved my time with Focapaci and I’m really
excited about the work that the ICS project will be able to achieve with them
in the final year of the project. Personally I’ve learnt so much, from the
organization and especially the families. It’s very difficult to leave but I
know that I’ll never forget the time I’ve spent with them here in Bolivia.